A facile in situ synthesis route [1] has been described for the preparation of polymer stabilized silver nanoparticles. Such in situ synthesized silver nanoparticles are shown to have excellent catalytic activity for the reduction of 4-nitrophenolate (4NP), an example of a proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) reaction mechanism. Also, the silver-polymer nanocomposite material is shown to perform as an efficient electro-catalyst for the oxidation of ascorbic acid. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.